MONTGOMERY, Ala. – U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville made national headlines after he tweeted “The enemy is inside the gates,” with a side-by-side photo of the burning Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosting an iftar in New York’s city hall.
The enemy is inside the gates. https://t.co/YSNHIpDnds
— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) March 12, 2026
Tuberville’s tweet was denounced by several Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY.
Tuberville, who is a frontrunner in the Republican primary to be Alabama’s next governor, has since doubled down on his original tweet, posting several more times about “radical Islam.”
He also said doesn’t “give a rip about being politically correct” and alleged that “ Innocent Americans are being gunned down in the streets almost daily by Radical Islamists whose ‘religion’ teaches them it’s righteous to kill Christians.”
Democrats are calling me a “racist” for speaking the truth about Radical Islam.
But it isn’t a race. It is a DEATH CULT that teaches its followers to kill Americans.
— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) March 13, 2026
Tuberville’s social media posts have been applauded by some Republican lawmakers, including U.S. Reps. Randy Fine, R-Fla., and Andy Ogles, R-Tenn.
I’m a Tommy Tuberville Conservative. https://t.co/ajLTrXqYbC
— Rep. Andy Ogles (@RepOgles) March 12, 2026